Trouble in Paradise
by carlypotter
Summary: Everything is as usual in Lima, Ohio, until the town is mysteriously quarantined with no reason given. Who are the people who took over the town, and more importantly, why? The Glee kids, while dealing with their normal teenage drama, want to know.
1. Chapter 1

"Damn it, damn it, damn it," Quinn sobbed, clamping a hand over her mouth so her parents wouldn't hear her.

"Sweetie, is everything okay?" her mom called.

She stifled a sob and choked out "yep, just stubbed my toe on the counter," as she wrapped the pregnancy test, proudly displaying two lines, back up and stuffed it into her backpack. No way she could get rid of it at home - she'd have to throw it away at school. It couldn't be traced back to her then.

_What am I going to do? _She thought, mentally cursing herself for letting herself get into this situation. _How _had she agreed to sleep with someone - _Noah Puckerman, of all people! _\- without protection? And Finn - oh sweet, loyal, naive Finn. What was she going to tell him? He had to believe he was the father, obviously - she couldn't crush him by admitting that she'd cheated on him in a stupid moment of weakness. She allowed herself a few moments to freak out, then composed herself. No one in the outside world, especially her parents, would see anything but the cool, collected facade that was Quinn Fabray.

That was the plan, anyways. But once she got to school, her emotions came back to her all at once. She barely held it together through her morning classes, especially with Finn sitting next to her in Spanish and Geometry. At lunch, when she had a moment to herself standing at her locker, she lost it.

"Quinn, what's wrong?" Finn asked, his beautiful brown eyes immediately sharpening with concern.

She couldn't tell him. She _had _to tell him - she couldn't bring herself to lie to him. "I-I'm pregnant," she said, so quietly that she wasn't even sure Finn could hear her. She watched several emotions flicker across his face - first confusion, then a moment of happiness, then shock, then full panic.

"Wh-how?" he asked.

"When we were in the hottub last month…" she began to choke out, again throwing a hand over her mouth so she wouldn't let out another sob and bring attention to herself.

Finn, ever the most supportive and caring boyfriend ever, wrapped his arms over her shoulders. She wrapped hers around his waist in response, and immediately felt like she could breathe again. His tall frame towered over her, making her feel safe and comfortable. "It's okay," he whispered to her. "We can figure this out. I'm here, for whatever you decide, okay?"

She mentally kicked herself in the ass again. Here was Finn, so sure of himself, so supportive, and she'd been nothing but awful to him in return. She definitely did _not _deserve him.


	2. An unexpected discovery

Rachel knew something was off the moment she saw Quinn Fabray cry.

Quinn was the picture of cool, always hiding behind an impenetrable mask. Sure, she smiled and laughed with the Cheerios - often at Rachel's expense - but it was obvious that Quinn was carefully guarding herself.

Rachel wouldn't even have noticed it if Finn hadn't been at her locker - really, she'd been watching him. That she'd noticed Quinn was a side affect of that. She sighed - Finn would never like her when he could have Quinn. Why would he? No boy in their right mind would choose the unpopular, geeky Glee-club girl over the pretty blonde Cheerios captain. Judging by Quinn's loss of composure, something serious was happening. A life-ruining secret, perhaps? Rachel smiled vindictively, then scolded herself. She didn't _want _Quinn to get thrown off the social ladder, per se. Just maybe get knocked down it a little bit. Either way, she was determined to figure out what was going on.

Like most happenings in her life, Rachel found the secret completely by accident. She'd been in the bathroom during third period, freshening up her makeup. Only one stall in the bathroom was occupied, by someone hurling something awful. Rachel figured it could only be two things: someone had some serious food poisoning, or someone was pregnant.

She lingered at the counter until the stall door opened. And who else came out, eyes bloodshot and hair a mess, but Quinn Fabray, McKinley High's golden girl? Rachel whipped around. "You're pregnant!" she exclaimed. Quinn would never touch the McKinley lunch, so that _had _to be it.

Quinn, eyes already welling with tears, nodded. She thought about denying it for a minute, but she knew it was futile. If she did, Rachel would have the rumor mill circulating in minutes anyways. "Please don't tell anyone - only Finn knows," she whispered. She then clamped her hand over her mouth and headed back into the stall, not bothering to lock the door this time.

Rachel considered. Now, she wasn't a _totally _heartless bitch, and getting in good with Quinn might even be helpful for her. And really, she did feel maybe a _little _bad for Quinn in the moment. So she did something she never thought she'd do - she walked over to the stall, rolled up her sleeves, and held Quinn's hair back as the girl wretched in the toilet some more.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone," she told her. "You must be terrified."

Quinn nodded in agreement, surprised at the sympathy. She'd never been nice to Rachel, and even went out of her way to target the girl at times, so she wasn't sure why Rachel was being nice to her now. Maybe she wasn't as bad as Quinn thought. If only she didn't have that pesky little crush on Finn. "Thanks, Rachel."

"I know you don't like me very much, but I'm here if you need someone to confide in."

Quinn finished getting sick again, took Rachel's number - just in case, though she never really planned to use it - and the two said nothing more.

She was still musing over this discovery when she got home. She, Rachel Berry, was the only thing between Quinn - _Quinn freaking Fabray! -_ still being Queen B at McKinley High and becoming a social pariah.

"Hi, honey!" her dad greeted her as she took her coat off.

"Hi, Daddy," she replied, confused. He wasn't supposed to be here. "I thought you and Papa were going out of town for the week?"

"We were, but we were stopped on our way out of town," he explained. "They shut down the roads out of Lima. No one's getting out for the time being."

Rachel furrowed her brow. "Oh, that's weird. Did they say why?"

"No, no reason. All they said is there's a temporary closure."

"That's weird." She didn't think much more of it, and sat down to dinner with her dads before logging onto MySpace and uploading her daily song.

Even though she'd promised she wouldn't spill Quinn's secret, Rachel _loved _knowing that she had dirt on Quinn. It was just so funny to Rachel - Quinn, the pretty, popular, leader of McKinley's celibacy club, wasn't the type of girl you'd expect to have major secrets. She just seemed so innocent to the outside world. She mostly felt vindicated that Quinn _wasn't _as perfect as she pretended to be.


	3. We need a plan

Finn was panicking.

Quinn had dropped her pregnancy bomb on him, and he had exactly no idea what to do.

Honestly, Finn had felt like their relationship was coming to an end before this. He'd been noticing Quinn's cattiness and downright meanness a lot more, and he didn't want to stand for it. She never listened to him when he told her she should tone it down. She'd even been increasingly hateful towards _him_ lately, and honestly he was getting tired of it. He'd talked to Puck, his best friend, about it but Puck said he should stay with her.

And now they had a kid on the way, a kid _neither _of them were prepared to care for. Hell, neither of them had as much as a part-time job! Finn was a hundred per cent focused on actually having a good football season for once, and Quinn was all wrapped up in cheerleading and her social life.

It was eating him not knowing what she wanted to do, either. Did she want to get an abortion? Finn guessed not - it would go against her beliefs at the _very _least. They could give it up for adoption, to a family who wanted a baby. Or they could keep it and raise it themselves, which in itself would come with too many challenges. And what would Quinn's parents say when they found out? Would they even allow her to keep it?

Honestly, it terrified him.

"Hey man, we gotta talk," Finn told Puck later that day before football practice. Luckily no one else had shown up yet, so the locker room was empty.

"What's up?"

He took a deep breath. "Quinn's pregnant."

Puck looked shocked. "Pregnant? You serious?"

"Yeah, man. She told me yesterday. We were messing around in the hottub at her parents when they were on that trip last month and I couldn't stop myself…"

Puck scrunched up his face, waving away the details. And then, an alarm bell went off in his head. It was true, Quinn's parents were gone last month. That's why she was there all alone that weekend when Puck went over to clean their pool. They'd hooked up then, and barely spoken since. Could this kid actually be his? No, no way.

"...didn't think we'd need one cause we never really planned on anything _that _serious happening," Finn was saying when Puck tuned back in. He was pacing back and forth furiously, and continued his rant.

Puck got up and placed his hands on Finn's shoulders, making him stop in his tracks. "Dude, you're freaking out," he said. "You need a plan. How are you gonna take care of this kid?"

Finn paled again, sitting down and putting his face in his hands. "I know I'm freaking out. I don't know _how _I'm gonna take care of it. I don't even know if we're keeping it! We're just kids ourselves!"

"Wait, wait. Not keep it? Like you think she might have an abortion?"

"I don't know, man. We haven't talked about it yet."

"You gotta do that before you do anything. Then worry about the rest."

Finn groaned, slamming the door to his locker shut. "You're right. We gotta talk."

So did Puck and Quinn.

That would have to wait, though. Right now, they had practice, followed by an away game the next day. Coach Beiste, who the team had been doing surprisingly well under, had made the arrangements to head out right after practice.

The armed men blocking the exit to I-75 had other plans, though. "Road's blocked, turn back," one of the men told Bieste and the bus driver.

"This is ridiculous," Bieste replied. "We have a game to get to. Do you know how long its been since this team has had a shot of even _possibly _getting into the playoffs?"

"No exceptions," the man said shortly. "Now move along, or we're going to have some trouble."

He gestured with his gun, making his threat explicit. Bieste backed down, telling the driver to head back to the school. She got on the phone with the other team's coach telling them about the situation.

Back at school the next day, the guys were commenting on the weird situation.

"That happened to my dads, too," Rachel told the team when she overheard them talking. "They were supposed to go on vacation this week but they got turned around at the exit. They didn't say the men had guns, though."

"It's gotta be some big conspiracy," Puck was saying. "We gotta figure out what it is."

There was a murmur of agreement, and a few students telling Puck he was ridiculous. Nothing _ever _happened in Lima, so why would something start now?


	4. The plot thickens

"We need to talk," Puck said as he stormed up to Quinn's locker.

"We have nothing to talk about," she replied, rolling her eyes and tossing her hair over her shoulder as she began to walk away.

"Finn told me," Puck called after her, stopping Quinn dead in her tracks. She walked back over to him, glaring.

"Told you _what, _exactly?"

"That he got you pregnant after a _very _romantic frolick in your parent's hot tub," Puck replied, smirking. While Finn might be gullible and believed Quinn's excuse, Puck knew better.

She didn't say anything. "Look, is there any possibility it's his kid?" For his own sake of mind, Puck needed to know.

Quinn shook her head. There was absolutely no chance. "But he's my boyfriend," Quinn defended herself. "And your best friend. Do you know what it would do to him if he knew I cheated on him? With _you?_"

Puck had to admit she was right - finding that out would ruin Finn. He was too good for either of them. "Of course I'm going to tell him he's the father. I don't know what I'm going to do with _it _anyways," she continued.

"Look, like it or not, this is _our _kid. I want to be there to support it. I don't want to be just another deadbeat like my dad," he told her.

Quinn softened a little bit at that. "I know. I'm sorry, I just can't deal with this right now." She did walk away that time, with tears in her eyes.

At the end of the school day, the kids learned that the quarantine had intensified, or so it seemed. Principal Figgins announced that everyone would have to stay at the school for the immediate time-being, per orders from KalTek, the agency that had been blocking the roads. From what the kids could gather, they were a government contractor, but no other information was given.

Rachel was looking forward to that afternoon's glee club practice - some of the football team had joined the club, along with Finn, so she had a new audience to show off for.

Unfortunately for her, no one was really interested in listening to her sing. They were all too focused on the quarantine. "It's probably just a precaution," Mr. Schuester was trying to soothe them. "These things happen when there's fear of a medical outbreak or something like that. Try not to worry about it, guys."

But they were worried, Rachel among them. Being trapped in Lima itself was one thing, but trapped at the _high school_, with the student population who mostly hated her, for God knows how long? _That _was unacceptable. Of course, she wasn't about to go and try her luck with the armed guards who were driving all over the town.

The conspiracies began to fly. "They have to be spying on us," Mike said.

"No, no, man, they're messing with us. Putting drugs in the water, our air," Puck argued.

"That wouldn't even make any sense," Rachel said. "The air doesn't just stay in Lima, it would spread all over."

"Fine," Puck conceded. "The water, then. And who knows, maybe even our food. They're controlling deliveries coming in, right?"

"Guys, guys, can we please focus on this weeks number?" Shue yelled over them. The crowd quieted down, and got to work.

Luckily they were allowed to return to their homes before dark.

Rachel's dads were freaking out when she got home. "What's wrong?" she asked. Hiram was pacing around their living room while LeRoy looked on worriedly.

"Our office saw those KalTek people surrounding Lima's water plant today," Hiram replied. "We weren't supposed to, but it's in plain sight from the office. We were warned not to say anything or there would be repercussions."

_Puck was right,_ Rachel thought. Which meant things were going to get serious. What did KalTek want with Lima?


	5. Closer

**Chapter 5**

Rachel had had a tiny crush on Finn even before he joined Glee club. Now that she saw that he was just as talented as her, she had a _major _crush on him. She often caught herself daydreaming about them as a couple - the stunning leading lady and her equally as attractive leading man by her side. As far as she could see it, Quinn and her little secret were the only things standing in her way. And there was nothing she could do about that, until now.

While Finn could sing, his dancing skills weren't quite there. Rachel, who had been dancing since the age of 3, leapt at the chance to offer him some help learning the moves for their upcoming sectionals competition. Finn, happily accepted. They planned to meet up on their free period that afternoon, the last class of the day.

The auditorium at McKinley High felt massive with just the two of them in it. "You know, you've got a great voice," Rachel told him. "The Glee club's come a long way with you in it."

Finn lifted her up and spun around, as the number called for. He was just relieved he didn't fall or drop Rachel. "Really? Thanks," he smiled. It wasn't very often he got praise like that.

"Don't sound so surprised," Rachel giggled. "You've got real talent, Finn. Together we stand a real chance of making it to Regionals. Maybe even Nationals." She spun into his arms as the song stopped, and smiled up at him.

That was the first time Finn really noticed Rachel. She was slightly sweaty from running the number so many times that afternoon, but her eyes were sparkling, and she had a huge smile on her face. Finn smiled back at her, unable to resist. He thought she looked just as beautiful, if not more so, than Quinn.

He wasn't sure what came over him in that moment, but Finn found himself leaning down and kissing her. She made a surprised noise, but leaned into him and reciprocated the kiss. Eventually the two broke away, and Finn noticed she was blushing a lot.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Finn apologized. He really shouldn't have. He was with Quinn, after all.

"Don't be," Rachel said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "It was really nice."

The two sat on the stage, taking a break from practicing. Finn told Rachel all about his relationship with Quinn, confided that he thought they were going to break up before something big happened.

"I know she's pregnant," Rachel admitted to him, telling him the story of how she'd found her in the bathroom at the beginning of the week.

"Thank you for keeping it secret," Finn told her, genuinely relieved that he could trust Rachel.

"Of course," Rachel told him. "She might not be my biggest fan, but I wouldn't let something like that get out and hurt your reputation. You guys are the most popular people at McKinley, after all."

They talked some more. Rachel tried her best to give sound advice, which was hard given that she'd never been in a situation like this before. But she tried her best to relate. "I have two dads. I was adopted," she told him. "If my mom hadn't made the choice she did, I never would have been given the opportunities I've had because of my dads. Adopting isn't a bad thing."

Finn agreed. "It would be great to give the baby a better life," he said. "We're so young, you know? Neither of us have jobs. I've never even _held _a baby before." Quinn had also seemed mostly on board with adoption when they'd discussed it after school the previous day, much to Finn's relief. He'd love the kid, no doubt, but he wasn't ready to be a father.

"I miss my dad," he told Rachel. "He always knew what to do." His dad had been in the military, and had been killed overseas a few years ago. The loss still stung. "He'd be able to help, you know? He'd just give me some old fashioned Dad advice and make sure everything would be okay."

Rachel nodded. "I'm sorry about your dad," she said. "It must be really hard."

"It is," Finn said, suddenly choked up with tears.

Rachel, not knowing what to do, wrapped her arms around him. He did the same in response, letting a sob out on her shoulder. She had _no _idea what to do - no one had ever confided in her, let alone literally cried on her shoulder before. So, she did what she liked having done to her when she was upset - she rubbed his back, and let him cry.

Eventually the sobs became sniffles and Finn calmed down. "Thank you," he told her. "I don't know where that came from."

Rachel squeezed his hand. "It's okay to be sad. And that's what friends are for - to comfort you when you're sad." He laid down, resting his head in her lap. She casually began stroking his hair. The two stayed in silence for a while.

"You can kiss me again if you want," Rachel said, laying down next to him.

Finn considered, deciding he _did _want to. He rolled over so he was now on top of Rachel, and leaned down and kissed her again. They stayed that way until the bell rang, signalling the end of the day. The two walked to the music room together, not noticing Quinn glaring at them as they walked past her locker.

Puck and Mike were again tossing out conspiracies revolving around KalTek as the group waited for Mr. Schuester to arrive. "They've gotta be doing _something_," Puck was insisting.

"My dad saw them doing something around the water towers during that escalated lockdown yesterday," Rachel told them. "His office is right by so he saw everything. And they were told to keep their mouths shut."

"We _have _to find out what they're doing," Puck continued. "Anyone down for a little recon?" His question was met with enthusiastic cheers from most of the group.

"This is crazy," Tina objected. "We're kids, we're not spies! They'll catch us for sure."

"Only if we're not careful," Puck replied. "We have a right to know what they're doing in our town."

Puck did have a point - so far, KalTek had been nothing but shady. The town was totally shut down - nothing was coming in or out, at least not without KalTek's approval. And they didn't seem like they were above using force to keep it that way.


	6. The truth comes out

"I feel like I'm losing him," Quinn lamented to Santana and Brittney. "He's spending all his time on football or that _stupid _Glee club. We've barely talked all week. And Rachel's following him around everywhere. It's pathetic."

"So, fix it," Santana told her. "You need to remind him where your priorities lie."

"Why don't you join Glee so you can keep an eye on him and keep Rachel in check?" Brittney asked.

Santana and Quinn laughed, thinking Brittney was joking. But Santana stopped and smirked. "Wait, Brit. That's actually a great idea. We can all join Glee and try to squash that pathetic bug Rachel Berry, _and _all her geeky friends."

"And then everything will be back as it should be," Quinn finished, satisfied. Finn was dating _her_, not Rachel, a fact they both seemed to need a reminder of. Of course, she'd have to do it carefully - Rachel could still out her secret, if she wanted to go nuclear. If it got out at school, it would definitely get back to her parents, which she just couldn't have. Not until she had a plan.

The trio set up an audition for that afternoon, in front of the whole Glee club. Luckily for them, they were actually decent singers.

Quinn stopped at her locker before the audition to put her books away. She jumped as Puck came seemingly out of nowhere. "Here, this is for you," he said, passing an envelope to her.

She opened it and looked inside the envelope, filled with cash. "What's this?" she asked.

"Money, from my pool cleaning business. For the baby," he explained.

"You don't have to do that," Quinn told him, grateful nonetheless.

"I know, but I want to," he said. "I told you I don't want to be a deadbeat like my dad."

"I don't even know if I'm keeping it," Quinn told him. "We might decide to give it up for adoption."

"Let me keep it," he told her. "If you don't want it, fine. But I'd like the chance to raise my child." Puck realized exactly how insane that sounded, but he was desperate to prove - to himself and to the rest of the world - that he was nothing like his father.

"We'll talk about it when the time comes," Quinn told him. "Hey, you're still in Glee, right? San, Brit and I are auditioning today."

Puck smiled. He would be happy to be around Quinn more, even though she wanted nothing to do with him. "That's cool. See you there, then." He walked off.

Quinn turned around to see Rachel staring at her, wide eyed. She'd clearly heard their whole conversation, and now she knew the most devastating part of Quinn's secret. Quinn opened her mouth, wanting to beg Rachel for a chance to explain, but Rachel ran off before she could say a word. Off to tell Finn what she'd heard, for sure.

Things were seemingly normal when Quinn and her friends got to the choir room. Finn even greeted her with one of his warm hugs and a kiss on the forehead. Rachel hadn't gotten to him, yet. Maybe Quinn could get ahead of it, find some way to break it to him.

She wouldn't have that chance. As luck would have it, Finn was sitting next to Rachel. Quinn didn't have time to say anything before their audition. While they were singing, she noticed Rachel whisper to Finn, looking horrified. Anger, then sadness, swept across his face as he furiously whispered back. Rachel nodded, sadly, and replied.

They kept on like that. Quinn tried to alert Puck to the situation by looking at him then back down to Rachel and Finn. It didn't work. All Puck seemed to notice was Quinn looking at _him, _instead of Finn.

Finn got up and ran out of the classroom. Quinn had to resist shooting Rachel a death glare as she followed him - Quinn knew it was nobody's fault of her own. _At least they left so we can do this privately, _she thought.

She was wrong. There would be no doing it in private. Rachel had obviously calmed Finn down, and the two returned as the audition was finishing up. Quinn thought that maybe he'd be calm enough to keep up appearances in front of everyone, so she decided to take the empty chair on his other side.

Unfortunately for Quinn, she was wrong again. "Why don't you go sit by your new boyfriend so you three can play happy family?" He asked, not yelling but still loud enough for the whole room to hear.

She couldn't stop herself from tearing up. "Finn, I'm so sorry, I -" she began.

"No! You don't get to be sorry. _You lied to me! _You cheated on me, got pregnant with _his _baby, and told me it was mine! I'm done with you, both of you!"

At that point, Puck got up from his own seat. "Back off, man. She only did it because she didn't want to hurt you."

"Yeah? And i'm guessing you 'didn't want to hurt me' when you slept with her in the first place, either!"

"That's enough," Mr. Shue stepped in, trying to break things up. "You can all meet with Miss Pillsbury at the beginning of the day tomorrow. Right now, we've got practice." He made sure to sit Puck and Quinn far away from Finn.

Finn and Rachel left as soon as practice was over. Rachel's heart broke for Finn - he was distraught. "I'm so sorry you had to find out this way," she repeated for what felt like the thousandth time. She felt awful for telling him, but she thought it had been the right thing to do. He deserved to know the truth, right?

"I can't believe I ever trusted him," Finn replied. "Thank you for telling me. I'm glad I can trust _someone _around here to tell me the truth."

"Of course," Rachel replied. "My dad is cooking his famous 12-layer lasagna tonight. Why don't you join us? It always makes me feel better after an emotional day."

He was supposed to stay off the carbs for his football diet, but right now Finn didn't care. "That sounds amazing."

Back in the choir room, more planning was under way. "Well, we're two people down now, so let's see how this is gonna go," Puck began. It seemed like he was kind of masterminding the whole thing.

"You've got 3 more. Count us in," Santana said. "Whatever spying you're up to sounds fairly entertaining at the very least."

"Uh, great. So this weekend seems like as good a time as any. It just so happens there's a tiny campground a little less than half-a-mile from the water tower. I've already checked that they're still open. So we can set up there, and keep watch on the tower in shifts. There's plenty of woods to hide in so they won't see us."

They all agreed to get permission from their parents to go camping. Puck would make the reservation at the campground. Tina and Mike volunteered tents for them to sleep in, while Quinn, Brittney and Santana offered up sleeping bags and air matresses. Puck and Mike had several pairs of binoculars and a telescope, so they could see the water tower better. With that done, their plan was set.

Puck followed Quinn out of the choir room once everything was set. "I'm sorry it got so ugly in there," he apologized to Quinn.

"It's not your fault," Quinn said. "The exact wrong person overheard us. There's nothing to do about it now."

"He hates us," Puck lamented.

"He does," she agreed. "He'll forgive us. He's not one to hold a grudge." Over petty things, Finn certainly didn't hold grudges. Over this, though? Quinn wouldn't blame him if he did.

But now, a new door was open. Puck could have a part in their kid's life, if Quinn did decide to keep it. _I shouldn't be so fast to shut him down, _Quinn thought. Even though he had a certain bad boy reputation, Puck _had _been caring and sweet to her. He wasn't a bad guy, Quinn thought. Just a little rough around the edges. Maybe she _should _give him a chance.

"Hey, I have my first ultrasound tonight," Quinn told him. "Santana and Brit are covering with my parents for me. Do you want to come with me?"

Puck smiled, surprised. Any chance he could get, he would definitely take. "That sounds great," he told her. The two headed off together.

Meanwhile at the Berry residence, Finn couldn't get enough of Hiram's cooking. He had seconds of lasagna, and then thirds. And still had room for a piece of chocolate cake afterwards.

"This is _phenomenal, _Mr. Berry," Finn said between bites. "My mom's a good cook, but not _this _good."

The Berry fathers laughed. "Hiram is a trained cook," LeRoy bragged. "He was a chef before he got into theatre."

Rachel and Finn went up to her bedroom after helping clean up the supper dishes.

They laid on her bed, Rachel flat on her back, Finn lying by her side, resting his head on her chest. Rachel listened quietly as Finn talked about how he was feeling, offering the occasional piece of advice or a little bit of sympathy.

Finn appreciated it more than he could ever explain. To have Rachel be a listening ear, not judging him or telling him what to do, and just offering sympathy was what he needed. "You know, you're really cool, Rachel," he told her. "I know everyone at school kind of makes fun of you for the whole Glee thing, but they're stupid."

"Thanks," she said shyly. "I'm kind of used to it by now. Not being popular, I mean."

"You know, you'd be a lot more popular as the quarterback's girlfriend," he told her.

She smiled at him. "Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Finn Hudson?" she asked, a teasing note in her voice.

"I am, Rachel Berry," he replied, matching her tone.

"I'd love to be your girlfriend," she told him, and leaned down to kiss him.


	7. Not according to plan

"So what are we doing, exactly?" Tina asked. The group was huddled in a patch of brush in the wooded area near the water towers.

"We're just watching," Puck replied. "See if we can see them messing with the water towers or anything. We'll take turns, in groups of two. We can trade off every couple of hours." Tina paired herself off with Mike, and Brittney claimed Santana. That left Puck partnered with Quinn.

He volunteered himself and Quinn to take the first watch. They got cozy, setting up a couple of lawn chairs and a blanket to sit on. "So what do you really think they're up to?" Quinn asked, peering through her binoculars.

She couldn't see much movement - there were a few guards stationed by the gate to the water towers. Armed, as all the other ones have been. There were a bunch of KalTek vans parked on the grounds.

She looked past the water towers, to the business park. Surely the buildings in the park weren't far enough away for KalTek to hide whatever they were doing? Although if they'd all been threatened, like Rachel said her dad had been, they could be easily scared silent.

"I don't know, but it can't be anything good," Puck replied as he began to set up the telescope. "I've read enough horror books and seen enough movies to know that nothing good ends up happening to small towns when big, shady corporations roll into town."

Quinn was surprised. "Huh. You don't really strike me as the reading type," she told him.

"It's not a fact I advertise," Puck said. "I do have my dumb jock reputation to uphold."

Quinn laughed.

The next few hours were fairly silent - the guards changed shifts, and a few of the vans moved around the lot, but that was about it. Tina and Mike eventually showed up to relieve Quinn and Puck.

Mike had a couple of two-way radios with him. "I forgot I packed these until we were almost ready to come take over," he said. "This was we'll be able to talk to each other and update if we see anything."

"That's genius," Puck said, taking one of the radios. "It's been quiet so far. Keep us posted."

Quinn usually hated doing anything outdoorsy, but she found she was having fun. Hanging around the campground and joking around with the others felt really nice. Quinn always felt like she had to keep up her perfect, popular act at school, and none of her friendships ever felt genuine to her.

"Hey, should we be getting pictures of the water towers?" she asked. "I have a camera at home. I can go get it."

Everyone agreed - if they caught KalTek messing with the water, and tried to tell someone about it, they wouldn't be believed unless they had the proof. Who would they even tell, anyways? Quinn wondered. The police? Sure, but if KalTek was a government contractor like Figgins had said a few days ago, she wasn't sure there was much the police could do to shut them down.

She got in her car - she'd driven everyone to the campground - and went back to her home to grab the camera. "Hi, sweetie," her mom greeted her. "I thought you were camping with some of the Cheerios?"

"I just came back for my camera," Quinn told her. "We want to take some pictures for Brit's scrapbook."

Her mom smiled. "That's such a cute idea! How's everything been going so far?"

"Great," Quinn called from her room. "Santana taught us how to pitch a tent and we're going to cook s'mores on the campfire later on."

"Oh, yum! Don't have too many though!" Quinn rolled her eyes. Quinn's mom was _always _on her about her weight, even though Quinn was in perfect shape.

"I won't," she called as she headed out the door and back to the campground.

"Miss anything while I was gone?" she asked.

"Not a thing. Nothing's moving," Puck reported. "It's just about our turn again."

It was mid-afternoon now, and it was decided that Mike and Tina would come relieve them when it got dark out. It was still pretty uneventful - the most action they saw was a couple of KalTek people dressed up in lab suits disappearing into one of the sheds set up by the towers. They looked like temporary buildings, like they'd been set up by KalTek.

"So, have you talked to Finn yet?" Puck asked as they walked back to camp.

Quinn shook her head. "He doesn't want to see me, let alone talk to me. And the whole school's gonna find out sooner or later," she sighed. "My social life is basically over."

"You'll bounce back," Puck said, offering some encouragement. "Quinn Fabray, darling of McKinley High and leader of the Cheerios? Everyone's going to be worshipping at your feet again before you know it."

That actually made her feel a lot better. "Thanks," she said. "I don't even know if I'll be able to stay in school with the baby."

"If I keep it," she added hastily.

"You know, I'm here if you need to talk through your options if you need," Puck said.

"I know," she said. "You are this baby's father, after all. You deserve a say too."

Puck smiled - he was glad Quinn was giving him a chance to be a father, and not repeat his own fathers mistake.

"Guys, this is pointless," Tina's voice crackled over the radio. "Nothing's happening. Nothing's happened since we got here _this morning_."

"Maybe they work at night so no one will see them from the business park," Puck reasoned. "We don't know. We have to keep watching until we find out."

An annoyed sigh from Tina was the only response.

It wasn't until later that night that something began to happen, shortly after Brittney and Santana had taken over. "Guys, you gotta come see this," Santana whispered over the radio.

The other four made their way through the woods, and were surprised to find things had picked up. Dozens of guards were roaming around the towers, and outside the gate, all armed. Several semi-trailer trucks were parked in the lot now, and were being unloaded. There were crates of all sizes, some with different symbols on them.

Quinn was glad she'd brought her camera with her. "I have to get closer to get pictures," she said, and began getting closer.

"Be careful, there's guards everywhere," Puck warned. "It isn't safe."

"I'll be fine," she said. "I'll take one of the radios. Watch my back and let me know if they get too close."

She got as close as she felt safe, still a couple hundred metres away from the towers. She began snapping away, grateful that the floodlights were on so she didn't have to use the flash on her camera.

"Quinn, they're getting close. You should come back," Puck radioed to her, whispering. "They're starting to get between you and the woods."

She was almost done, so she agreed. She wanted to see if she could wait until they were done unloading the semi's, though.

She was glad she stayed. Once the crates, boxes, and refrigerated units were all out, the KalTek guards began unloading _people_. They had cloth bags over their head, both concealing their identities and concealing their location from them. Quinn noted that they were walking like zombies - shuffling along, slow and sluggish. It took a guard on either side to keep them upright enough to walk.

She snapped away, getting way more pictures than she thought necessary. She got up, ready to get back to the woods. "Quinn, be careful -" the warning over the radio came too late.

A guard came running up from her left, where he'd been hidden by shadows. "Hey, stop! What do you think you're doing?"

She began to run as the guard called out for assistance. She'd almost made it to the woods, into a thick section away from where they'd been camped out. She thought she was free until she felt a stinging sensation in her arm. Making a surprised noise, she looked down. A small dart was sticking out, with some sort of medicine in it. _A tranquilizer, _she thought as her vision went back and she slumped into the arms of a KalTek guard, unconscious.

**A/N: **A little cliffhanger for you here! Hope you're all enjoying the story so far. Stay tuned!


	8. A trap?

Puck, Santana, Brittney, Mike and Tina were frozen. They didn't dare move, lest the KalTek guards find them as well.

"They got Quinn," Tina whispered. "Oh my God, they got Quinn."

Puck hushed her. He had to think. If Quinn was being detained by the KalTek people, there was no way they were getting to her, not right now. "Right now we need to get out of here," he said. "We won't be any help to her if they kidnap us too."

The group snuck as quietly as they could back to the campground.

"We never should have let her get that close," Puck said, angry with himself. He shouldn't have let her get that close to the water tower by herself. He should have gone with her. "We need to figure out where they took her, and then get her out."

The rest of them nodded, looks of worry and concern on their faces. "We'll start watching again but this time we'll be looking specifically for Quinn, for any hints of where they might be keeping her."

"We should look around where she ran into the woods, too," Mike added. "Maybe she dropped something."

Puck and Santana took watch while the other three went to look at where Quinn had been caught. "We found her camera. It looks like she hid it in the bushes," Mike reported. "No radio though."

KalTek must have Quinn's radio. "Shit. They're probably listening. Get out of there and we'll meet at the rendevouz."

The three of them backtracked to their stakeout spot as Puck and Santana watched a group of KalTek guards run out of one of the shelters. "They're listening to the frequency we had the radios set to," Puck said. "They might even be monitoring all of them. Let's check."

He flipped one of the radios to a new channel. "Alright, we should be safe here," he said, pretending he was still keeping lookout. "We can see the guards just below the ridge we're on. You guys okay?"

Mike was happy to put some of his improv skills to use. "We circled around and we're in the woods between the business park and the towers now," he replied. "We'll come back around. Be there soon."

Sure enough, another KalTek team came running out to search the area. "Wait, hold on," Santana said. "If they're listening to us, why can't we listen to them? Find out what channel they're on or whatever and see if we can figure out what's going on."

"That's genius," Puck said, as he began flipping through channels. He didn't have much luck, and was about ready to give up until he flicked onto the next one.

"...couldn't find them, but they're somewhere close," a voice crackled through.

"We'll have to put her back. They're getting too close to base," another responded.

"But we're not finished with this group yet," the first voice protested.

"I don't care. We can't risk having people sneaking in here looking for her. She needs to be gone."

"Fine. Where should we dump her?"

"Back in the woods, for all I care. She won't remember a thing. Let's keep her for another 12 hours or so, though."

The conversation stopped, but the group kept listening.

"They have to be talking about Quinn, right?" Santana asked.

"I don't see anyone else out here spying on KalTek who would be stupid enough to plan a rescue mission," Puck replied, making the group chuckle. "It sounds like they're gonna give her up, which is weird. Maybe it's a trap?"

"Probably," Mike agreed. "We'll keep watch up here and see what goes down."

They took the time to look through Quinn's photos, as they hadn't fully been able to see what she'd been taking pictures of from their position. "Oh this is bad," Brittney said, flipping through the pictures of the humans being led from the trucks.

"No wonder they don't want anyone near this place," Mike agreed.

"Or coming in and out of town. Too many chances for someone to accidentally see what they're up to," Puck said. One tiny town would be easy for KalTek to control, especially with no one coming or going. Less loose ends to keep track of.

"Do you think they're running tests or something on them?" Tina asked.

"I sure hope not."

Meanwhile, Rachel and Finn were hanging out at Finn's house before they went on a dinner date. They were making out on his bed when his phone began ringing. He reached over and turned the ringer off, not bothering to check who was calling.

Seconds later, it started ringing again. He let it ring until it stopped, before starting up again shortly after. It repeated 5 or so more times before Finn, annoyed, broke their kiss and picked up the phone. It was Puck. "I'm busy, I don't care what you have to say, and I don't want to talk to you. Stop calling," Finn said, hanging up before Puck could protest.

They resumed making out in peace, before the phone started again. This time, it was Rachel's. "Let me deal with this," she said, picking up the phone.

"You've reached Rachel Berry," she answered. "Hi, Puck. Yes, I'm with him. Yes, you've rudely interrupted a _delicious _make-out session before our date. Now I know you're probably feeling like a terrible person for betraying your best friend like you did, and want to apologize to him, but Finn really doesn't want to hear it right now."

She paused for a second, furrowing her brow. "Oh my goodness. You're serious?" She let out a very annoyed sigh. "I suppose date night will have to wait, then. I'll talk to him." Without another word, she hung up.

"So they're doing their spying and it seems Quinn was kidnapped by KalTek while she was taking pictures of them unloading human subjects from a truck at the water tower," she said.

Finn raised his eyebrows. "Humans? Really?"

"They've got the pictures from Quinn's camera, which she smartly hid in the woods before they caught up to her," Rachel explained. "Apparently they found KalTek's radio channel and they're going to release her tonight because they don't want anyone snooping around the water towers."

"And they want our help," Finn said, even more annoyed. Rachel nodded. This was his ex-girlfriend, and his best friend, who had lied to and betrayed him. And now they were asking for his help?

He was tempted to say no, but his conscious wouldn't let him.

"Let's go," he said.


	9. Ghost town

Rachel was decidedly not an outdoors girl. She didn't mind camping, sure, but trekking through the woods to get to Puck's hiding spot was not her idea of a fun time.

"It's about time you got here," Tina said as they arrived. "Not much is happening yet."

"So what's the point of watching them if they're not doing anything?" Finn asked sarcastically.

"Look at these pictures and you'll see," Puck said, handing Finn Quinn's camera. Finn looked through the pictures with Rachel, growing more horrified at each one. "This is awful," he said. "What do we do?"

"First, we wait for Quinn to be released," Santana said. "Then we take these pictures somewhere. To the cops, the media, I don't know. But we have to get them out there."

On that they were all in agreement - KalTek had to be exposed. "I doubt they're even real government contractors," Puck said. "Just setting up a front so they can do whatever they want with no repercussions."

Rachel considered. It was definitely possible - she didn't _think _the government would hire a company to do experiments - or what appeared to be experiments - on people. But she wasn't entirely sure that they _wouldn't _either - hell, just look at CIA experiments like MK ULTRA, and there was all the proof you needed.

They went on debating the legitimacy of KalTek, what exactly they were doing, and how best to draw attention to it when they heard a commotion coming from the water towers. It was a large host of KalTek guards, all escorting Quinn. They were holding her up and she was kind of slumped forward, like she was unconscious. A look through the binoculars confirmed as much.

They waited until all the KalTek guards disappeared back inside the buildings before even speaking. "Do you think it's a trap?" Brittney asked.

"They would have kept some guards hidden around the woods if it was," Puck reasoned.

"How do we know they didn't?" Finn argued. "There were so many of them that we couldn't possibly know if they left a handful behind."

"Guys, enough arguing, we should be going to get Quinn," Santana interjected. She was carrying a small plastic bag with a pair of clothes Quinn had left at their campsite. "Let's go."

The group moved slowly over to where they thought Quinn would be, and found her after a couple of minutes. She was groggy, still waking up from whatever drugs they'd put in her.

Puck got really worried. Would anything they did to Quinn hurt the baby? Probably. He swore if KalTek hurt his kid he'd do his best to destroy them. "Quinn, we're here," he said, going to her side.

"Puck?" she asked, confused. "What happened?"

"Let's get you back to the campsite, and then we'll explain," he said.

It took Quinn a while to stop feeling so dazed and confused. Once she wasn't so out of it, the group began to talk. She didn't remember much at all - she even forgot about the pictures she had taken until the group showed them to her.

"And they found me and...what, kidnapped me?" she asked, shocked. "Oh God, what if they did whatever they're doing to those poor people to me? What if they hurt my baby?" She was echoing Puck's concerns.

"Don't worry," he tried to reassure her. "We'll get baby checked out as soon as we can. You're due for a checkup in a week or two, right?" Quinn nodded her head, suddenly grateful that she began keeping Puck up to date on those things. "They can tell us if anything is immediately wrong then."

"I'd never thought of that," Rachel said. "Sure nothing's wrong now, but what if the people experience long-term side effects? This could be more serious than we thought."

"We'll have to come up with a plan soon," Quinn said. "But now, I want to enjoy tonight before we have to go back to school tomorrow." The weekend had gone by really fast, particularly for Quinn, who'd spent most of it unconscious.

Their arrival the next day at school was similar to that of an arrival to an empty ghost town. There were only a few handfuls of students roaming the halls, compared to the hundreds that were normally there. The school was also full of substitute teachers - the story Figgins gave was that the faculty and some of the student body had indeed come down with a mysterious illness.

"A bunch of the Cheerios missed practice today," Brittney told them at lunch. "And we had really awful substitutes for our morning classes."

"Guys, what if they're some of the ones that KalTek has at the water plant?" Quinn whispered. "They could be in real trouble."

"They're not sick, they're being used as test dummies," Rachel agreed.

Quinn took out her camera and the group huddled by as she began looking through the pictures once again. "We can't tell for sure because their faces are covered," she said, annoyed. "But some of these could definitely pass for our friends or teachers."

The rest of the group was in agreement. KalTek hadn't unloaded that many people at the water plant, but that didn't mean that they couldn't be hiding them elsewhere. Puck recalled one of the guards saying something about 'groups,' and figured that meant that they were testing in different areas, too.

"That settles it, then," Puck said. "We have to expose them."

But they had to figure out _how_, first.

**A/N: Hope you liked the chapter! Chapter 10 will likely be the final one. Thanks for reading!**


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